


Compensation

by wyvernqueen



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 17:06:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4795412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyvernqueen/pseuds/wyvernqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucia Oneshot.  Ser Aymeric has always been there when she was in need of aid.  Now comes the chance where she can repay him without needing words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compensation

**Author's Note:**

> This is all a result from me playing Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward nonstop in the last month. Yup, this is what it does to you. I was surprised that nobody had written anything about Ser Aymeric yet, considering the threads I've seen on the official forums, but kudos to the few who found themselves here! You're awesome. :)

Time and time again, he comes to her aid.

Aymeric, even before he had become a Ser, was perplexing.   An orphaned Garlean like herself couldn't bother to try to understand why.   He was just a tool.   A tool to be used in her mission, to be precise.   At the end of the day, she would be back home and happy in Garlemald, or reunited with Livia, one way or the other.   This was just an obstacle.   The Eorzeans were already cooped up, like chickens meant for slaughter.

But the moment he spies the other Ishgardians' cold looks, he comes to greet her with nothing less but a bow and a soft-lipped smile.   

_Heh,_ Lucia wonders mildly, continuing her facade.   _Interesting._

The second time he comes to her aid - or at least, the most vivid one - wyrms are flooding Coerthas' skies once again.   The creatures were huge, leaning over their enemy, massive jaws showcasing fangs as sharp as any serpent's.   This time, she had no Magiteknical technology.   This time, she could only begin to rely on an art she had just begun to practice.   Lucia lunges, trying to aim a blow, but her arms are so sore from training that she lunges the big sword sideways and almost trips over herself in an act of self-idiocy, leaving her open to the creature.   She hates herself, and this stupid, blistering cold.   Pities herself, even.   But when she closes her eyes and waits for the worst, she snaps them open to the sound of claw against metal shield, and realizes that Aymeric is there again.

After, when the fight is over, he promises to teach her swordfighting in secrecy.   She doesn't want to risk exposing herself, but he convinces her otherwise, going so far to keep it hidden from the Temple Knights.  
"I will not stand and watch one of my own fall, Lucia." He says, and by the lingering concern evident in his forceful voice, she realizes he isn't a warmongering scoundrel after all.  
    
_Perhaps,_ she thinks, her mind drifting off at the sight of the man, _these Eorzeans can be kind._

Lucia finds herself there, in the rubble of broken dreams he's pieced together, trying to create a reality that works out.   She knows the rumors.   She can't say for certain, but they've always run around.   It was always 'bastard son' or something or other, cursing him and the Archbishop in favour of one of their own.   It makes her upset, at seeing all that he's done to fix this, but at the same time, it helps her realize her faults.   What use was there to carry one's past like a festering wound?  And she knows then - by how she's sought counsel in him, fought battles with him, even chatted idly on an important task - Aymeric never let that change him. And that, and just maybe the light fluttering in her chest, makes her want to break out of her past to follow in his steps.

But he had trusted her when he shouldn't have.   Protected her, when she was the enemy.   Consoled her, even when she never needed it after all.   The facts weigh down on her as if someone had dropped a hundred pound weight on her shoulders.   If she ever wanted to get rid of her past, she would have to tell the truth.

And tell the truth she did.

Lucia waited - waited for a sign of hatred, or disgust - something to signify that she should leave and never come back.   But he does neither of those things.   He watches with peculiar ocean eyes, thinks, and turns to speak.

"Garlean or not, it doesn't matter.   You've proved yourself to be a comrade many times over.   I would be a fool to desert you."

And so, Aymeric saved her a third time.

There's other things she thinks about - the little things - Dinners and feasts and meetings with the House Counts, hunting for wyrms and having each others' back.   But all of them, no matter how small, led to the growing gratefulness in her heart. Later, when he rushes into the Vault without a second thought, when his life is put in jeopardy - it is not because of Ishgard's welfare that she chooses to fight.   It is because she cannot lose him.   They would not have him, no matter how much the Archbishop tried to pry him from her grasp.

No, she would fight for him this time.


End file.
